Sian Proctor has a message. The future of space exploration is not just for astronauts like her, but for everyone.
“We need what I call a ‘J.E.D.I.’ space, a just, equitable, diverse and inclusive space for all of humanity,” she said at the May 5 awards ceremony for the Salt Lake City School District’s Starborn Academy program. “That's the only way we're not just going to survive on the Moon and Mars, but actually thrive on the Moon and Mars.”
Proctor served on 2021’s all-civilian SpaceX Inspiration4 mission and was on hand to present awards to middle school students during the ceremony.
The mission of Starborn Academy is to empower students to explore space science and engage in creative expression. They also learn what it’s like to be an astronaut by using virtual reality tools to simulate space missions.
Students from all five of the district’s middle schools participated this year. Funding from Utah-based Uplift Aerospace made that possible. Programs have also been implemented in California and Colorado, as well as through community programs in Florida and Washington, D.C.
“We created Starborn Academy as a way to show students all the incredible jobs that exist within the STEM industry,” said Uplift Aerospace CEO Josh Hanes. “They do everything from astrobiology, growing plants in space to building rockets and rovers to programming.”
For Salt Lake City School District Career and Technical Education Director Laura deShazo, the program has made a measurable difference. She’s seen a love of learning and a growing interest in science, technology, engineering and math careers.
“When our students leave the classroom, they want more,” she said. “They’re reading more books, doing more research. We are ecstatic to see that they’ve ignited a renewed passion for learning.”
At the end of the program, students completed projects on space topics like how to build homes on the moon to how to transport people and materials in space.
Hillside Middle School eighth grader Joanie Jackson wants to go to space someday.
“I hope that we can be able to figure out a way to live on the moon and live in space and find other habitable space places that we can figure out how to fix those and live there,” she said.
Her final project, “Lunar Living, the Next Steps,” was all about the reuse of human waste to help grow plants in space. It ended up winning the award for “best real-world application.”
“My inspiration was looking at the International Space Station and seeing how they work on fixing problems and how they take care of their astronauts on the space station,” she said. “And also looking at future habitats that would be placed on Mars.”
Proctor said the student projects are directly related to the questions that need to be answered if humanity is to not just reach for the stars, but make life better on Earth too.
“It all is about efficiency. Efficiency in food, water, energy, resource management and waste management, the same things that we really have problems with here on Earth. If we are going to make Earth into this beautiful oasis for future generations, we need to go out and explore the cosmos.”
For her, space exploration should be inclusive of contributions from all walks of life.
“That means we need the artists, we need the poets, we need the musicians,” she said. “We need to bring our culture and our humanity along with the science, technology, engineering and math.”
All of the projects were digitized and will be sent to the moon on a future space mission. One student from each school was selected to witness the launch in person later this year.
